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@rmkelly We think Wright is saying that our brain is gifted at making up stories about the motivation behind actions even when the story telling part of brain doesn't actually have access to or knowledge of the actual motivations behind said actions. My extension of this is that to support the stories our brains make up, & to be seen as reliable members of the tribe, & desirable as a mate, we had to evolve an awareness for finding (or fabricating) evidence for the motivation our behavior. (1)

@noself Thx for comment, I appreciate it. I think it's good to stick to basics.

When you say that "even when" our brain doesn't have actual knowledge, the story-telling function might kick in, and COULD lead us to tell a story to support X. I agree.

Then you say that the result is that we "had to" support the story that our brain just made up. I disagree. Both the decisions to 1. tell ourselves a story, and, 2. stick with it in the face of contradictions, are matters of free will.

No?

Eph

@rmkelly I think what is most fascinating is why our minds created a fitness trait that tells stories. I hypothesize that no sentient creature could survive and replicate if it was fully cognizant of existential truth. Non-self-reflective creatures survive and replicate by instinct, ignorant of how bleak it is to survive and replicate against all odds, without ever ever really living (ignorance is bliss). And even for us, we create all sorts of fantasies to make life livable.